Wednesday, July 30, 2014

The Wild and the Wacky from Tuesday's Oakland City Council Meeting

OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | Just over an hour into Tuesday night's Oakland City Council meeting, a man jumped on the desk and, at one point, attempted to leap onto the council dais. "Okie-dokie," Council President Pat Kernighan calmly said as the man scaled the half-circle dais.

The San Francisco Chroniclereported 20-year-old Dante Cano was arrested for trespassing and disturbing a public meeting. However, the disrupting did not appear related to any council discussion.

But, that wasn't the only odd moment Tuesday night. Later, during an agenda item for a proposed city ordinance to raise the minimum wage, two men dressed as Colonel Sanders and the Burger King addressed the council.

The two activists were mocking Kernighan's proposal to raise the minimum wage gradually over the next three years as opposed to a ballot initiative immediately bumping it to $12.25 starting in March 2015. The ordinance was defeated late Tuesday, but not before opponents criticized it, among other reasons, for an exemption against raises for fast-food workers.

Colonel Sanders did all the talking and satirically thanked Kerngihan for keeping wages low. Later, he mocked a provision in the ballot measure allowing for nine sick days. "What's a few sneezes among friends?" he said.